Back to One
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“It’s Like Clouds Passing in the Sky”: Isabelle Huppert on her Elusive Acting Process (Back to One, Episode 223)
If Isabelle Huppert is not your favorite actor, she’s the favorite actor of someone you know. Guaranteed. There’s something about her that is unlike any other actor that has ever been on film. But it’s really hard to talk about what that “something” is. In each performance, in every film she’s made, she has such a command of the character, the text, the frame, that we place her in equal authorship with the directors she’s worked with, who happen to be some of most interesting and important in the last half-century—Jean Luc-Godard, Michael Haneke, Claude Chabrol, Michael Cimino, Claire Denis, […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Oct 4, 2022 -
Essie Davis on When She Stopped “Trying” and Started “Being”: Back To One Episode 220
Australian actor Essie Davis is best known for The Babadook, Game of Thrones, and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. This year, she stunned me with two incredible performances in two powerful films. In Nitram, directed by her husband Justin Kurzel, she plays the important and heartbreaking supporting role of Helen, opposite Caleb Landry Jones. In The Justice of Bunny King she broke my heart again, this time playing the house-less titular character who is desperately trying to get her kids out of foster care. It was made pre-pandemic and had a staggered release last year overseas. Look for it in select […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Sep 13, 2022 -
“The Only Important Thing is the Work”: Austin Pendleton on a Life on Stage (Back to One, Episode 218)
Austin Pendleton might be best known for My Cousin Vinny, or What’s Up Doc? but the 82-year-old actor, director, playwright and teacher is a one-man theater institution. It almost seems like there isn’t a great play that he hasn’t performed or directed, somewhere, in his more than 60 years in the business, and he’s not slowing down in the slightest. In this epic, 90-minute episode, what Meryl Streep said of Pendleton will ring tru: “There’s no line between the man and his work.” He talks about his latest performance, in the celebrated new Tracy Letts play The Minutes, then takes […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Aug 30, 2022 -
“Listening Became My Prime Directive” Back to One, Episode 217: Adrian Pasdar
Adrian Pasdar has experienced a lot in his nearly 40 years as a working actor and in this episode he generously shares the wisdom he’s gleaned. Some of the highlights in his credits include Top Gun, Near Dark, Carlitos Way, Heroes, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and perhaps the most talked about single-season series of the ’90s, Profit. Not to mention he’s the voice of Iron Man. He talks about how listening became his prime directive as an actor, his search for truth in performance (and the search for a better word than “truth”), “the method” as protective element, and why he […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Aug 23, 2022 -
Evil Star Katja Herbers on Over-Directing: I Know How Not to Listen” (Back to One, Episode 216)
Dutch actor Katja Herbers plays forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard on the hit series Evil, which just finished its third season at Paramount+. On this episode, she talks about how saying no to the audition actually secured her the role, and hitting it off with “the Kings” (show runners Robert and Michelle King) helped her feel ownership of it. We get into the beautiful weeds about the pitfalls of over-directing and how she often simply ignores direction or translates it into something she can use. She explains why laboring over an emotional through-line is unnecessary, how working with the girls that […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Aug 16, 2022 -
“I Did Not Play this Like it Was a Comedy”: Zoey Deutch on Not Okay (Back to One, Episode 215)
Zoey Deutch returns to the podcast (Ep. 11, Ep. 97) to talk about her latest role in Quinn Shephard’s dark social satire Not Okay. She plays Danni Sanders, a lonely, semi-clueless photo editor who suddenly gets the attention she craves after lying about almost dying in a terrorist attack. Deutch talks about how she approached the challenge of making Danni relatable, the frustrations of shooting in New York City, why she didn’t play it as a comedy, spirit animals, “using” the paparazzi, the amazing Mia Issac, what she learned from Mark Rylance on The Outfit, and much more! Not Okay […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Aug 9, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 214: Himesh Patel
Himesh Patel is nominated for an Emmy this year for his incredible performance as Jeevan in Patrick Somerville’s HBO Max mini-series Station Eleven. In this episode, he talks about how that role made him a better actor, which is saying a lot because he had already given us some phenomenal work in films like Tenet, Don’t Look Up, and his first feature film Yesterday. He talks about the attention and care given to him by the big-name directors of those films, and how that helped his work. I ask about his 10 years on the UK television institution EastEnders, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Aug 2, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 213: Angourie Rice
She’s only 21, but Australian actor Angourie Rice has earned respect in Hollywood for stacking up diverse roles in The Nice Guys, The Beguiled, Jasper Jones, Mare of Easttown, not to mention a few Spider-Man movies. Now she has her first starring role in Honor Society for Paramount+. She talks about how it helped her to be able to relate so much to her character in that film, and why talking directly to the camera was oddly easy. We chat about her podcast, The Community Library, which is a celebration of literature and storytelling of all kinds. This leads to […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 26, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 210: Juliette Binoche
Read just a sample of Juliette Binoche’s credits — Mauvais Sang, Three Colors: Blue, Damage, The English Patient, Chocolat, Certified Copy, Clouds of Sils Maria, Let The Sunshine In — and one thing becomes clear: few actors have been as internationally respected for such a sustained period of time. In this episode, she speaks about the importance of acting from the body and learning to use “sensation” as a starting point. She tells a story about feeling lost on the set of John Boorman’s In My Country, and what set her free should be a lesson to all directors. She […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 5, 2022 -
Back To One Episode 209: Antonia Campbell-Hughes
I watched the movie Cordelia not knowing anything at all about it, and never having seen Irish actor Antonia Campbell-Hughes in anything before. The psychological thriller greatly impressed me in no small part due to the captivating performance of Campbell-Hughes, particularly the emotional depth that she invites the viewer to examine without words. In this episode, she talks about the layering work she did to build that character, the unorthodox way her process (or conscious lack of process) has developed over the years, and why it all started with what continues to be the main ingredient—truth. Her feature directorial debut […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jun 28, 2022
